STAMFORD, CT – The need for computing hardware will not cease, but the shift of ownership will affect every aspect of the IT hardware industry, says a top research firm.

Gartner makes that case as part of its top end-user predictions for 2010, stating by 2012, 20% of businesses will not own IT assets.

In the same year, India-centric IT service firms will represent 20% of the leading cloud aggregators in the market, and 60% of a new PC’s total life greenhouse gas emissions will have occurred before the user first turns on the machine, says the firm. Eighty percent of total PC energy consumption happens during production and transport.

Organizations will want to assess cloud computing potential for their organizations, Gartner says.

Also, Facebook will become the hub for social networks integration and Web socialization, the firm adds. The active number of Facebook users is expected to exceed one billion by the end of this year.

By 2013, cellphones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device globally, despite the number of PCs in use reaching 1.62 billion units in 2012.

The combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.69 billion units. From 2012 on, this combined installed base will be greater than the installed base for PCs.

As smartphones spread, they will overtake the PC as the most common primary device for Web access during 2015.

By 2014, most IT business cases will include carbon remediation costs, and more than three billion of the world’s adult population will be able to transact electronically via mobile and Internet.
Internet marketing will be regulated by 2015, controlling more than $250 billion in spending worldwide, the research firm states.

By 2015, context will be as influential to mobile consumer services and relationships as search engines are to the Web. Context-aware computing will have a disruptive effect on business, particularly for retailers, financial services, media, healthcare, and telecom firms, according to Gartner.

Gartner expects the usual suspects -- Google, Nokia, Apple, Microsoft, and communication service providers -- to lead the creation of these services, platforms and business ecosystems.

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